The present invention relates to a regeneration control device for use in a hybrid vehicle powered by an engine and an assist motor, which device controls a regenerative deceleration system to charge a power accumulator with electric energy regenerated from the motor working as a generator while decelerating the vehicle.
Typically, a hybrid vehicle is powered by its engine and an assist motor and has a system of braking in which the motor becomes a generator, the output of which is determined depending upon a degree of deceleration of the vehicle and is returned to a power accumulator composed of batteries and condensers for supplying power to drive the motor.
However, the conventional regeneration control system of the hybrid vehicle, in which electric energy is generated by a driving motor-generator while the vehicle running downward on a slope using its regenerative deceleration system and is returned to a power accumulator of the driving motor, involves the following problem:
When driving the hybrid vehicle downward along a slope with frequently applying regenerative braking function, a driver may often experience that the accumulator is soon charged to its full capacity and further regenerative braking becomes ineffective. In this instance, the driver may lose the feeling in effective deceleration of the vehicle and may feel strange in driving the vehicle.